A man accused of rape claims his DNA was found on the tights of a woman who reported being raped in an East London alleyway because he tried to stop her falling over. Hossein Mahmoudi , 34, is on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court facing one count of rape and attempted rape against a woman in Stratford in December 2024 as she returned home from a Christmas party.

Mr Mahmoudi repeatedly wiped sweat from his forehead as he took questions from prosecutor Christiaan Moll on Tuesday afternoon (August 26), telling jurors he had gone to help the drunk woman as she urinated in a dark side-road off Stratford Broadway, but ran off when she started screaming at him on December 6, 2024.

Mr Mahmoudi, an Iranian national, previously claimed he recognised the woman as a welfare volunteer who had

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